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​Spring Cleaning

This Saturday, we are holding a clean-up day at the church from 8 to 12 - complete with donuts and coffee. We have a lot of small projects to complete, from wiping down rails to removing obstacles that interfere with our summertime mowing. We hope to see you there for a little spring cleaning!

As we spruce up the church and consider what needs to be done in our own homes as we come out of the winter cold in the next couple of months, it is a good time to consider what kind of spring cleaning we need to do in our lives, especially as it impacts our faith. Have our lives grown overly busy so that they now need some pruning to make time for what truly matters? Have negativity and resentment dirtied up the windows making it harder for God's light to get in? Is it time to pull out some of the overgrown, dying shrubs to make room for new seeds to grow? What in your life needs some cleaning out this spring?

Blessings on the journey, Jim

Sunday's Sermon Snippet

Forgiven: Forget About It? (Psalm 103:1-12, Isaiah 43:22-25)When it comes to forgiveness, there is another word associated with it that causes us some trouble - forget. "Forgive and forget" - we are told this is the ideal of the Christian life. Yet the forget part is so difficult. If we think of what someone has done to us when we see them, have we really forgiven? How can we possibly forget about some of the worst things others have done to us? Besides, trying to forget winds us reminding us of it instead. To understand the relationship of forgive and forget, we need to first understand a bit more about what forgiveness is. In Psalm 103, we find a picture of what it means when God forgive us of our sin. If sin is what separates us from God, then God's love is what separates us from our sin, as far as east is from west. The gap that forms between us because of our sin is nothing in comparison to God's infinite love. God pushes away and removes our sin in the same way that that sin tries to push us away from God. One key thing to note is that God does not forget the sin but removes it. It is still there but pushed so far aside that it is no longer what defines our relationship with God. So where does this idea of "forgive and forget" come from? The Bible does not talk so much of forgetting sin but rather of God's not remembering it. In Isaiah 43, God declares that, although the people have not come back with their offerings for sin, their sin is forgiven for God's sake and are remembered no more. This tells us several things. First, God's forgiveness is already available before we repent - we simply need to accept it. Second, forgiveness is rooted in who the forgiver is rather than what the transgressor deserves. Third, forgiveness begins with the choice to not remember the sin. What difference is there between not remembering and forgetting? To forget is not the opposite of to remember but instead the failure to remember. Forgetting is something that passively happens to us over time. Not remembering is a choice to hold something in mind. When we see someone who has wronged us, we can make the choice to not remember it - to not actively hold it in mind. What this does is free us from defining others by their sins and from defining ourselves as a victim. In this way, it is more for our sake that we should forgive so that we and our relationships with others are not defined by the sins of others. (Caveat: Not remembering the sin of someone who has deeply hurt us and shattered trust does not mean that we let ourselves get back into the situation for them to do it again - that would be forgetting. This does neither of us any good. We can choose to not define the other person by the sin while also not tempting a repeat of it. This is a part of being, as the Bible says, innocent as doves and wise as serpents. This is one reason that the difference between not remembering and forgetting matters!) What sins can you not forget? What would it take to not remember them?

Holy Humor

Here's a little exercise we used with our Little Fishermen to help them learn to use the Bible. To find the answer to the question, look up the verses in an NIV Bible and find the words listed.

Looking Ahead

A Psalm a Day

We are now fully a week into the season of Lent and our preparations for Easter on April 1st. A part of our Lenten tradition is to give up something we enjoy for the season and make room for God's spirit to work within us. I have heard from several of you about your choice of disciplines and how it is impacting your faith so far. I would love to hear from you about how your disciplines are going so far.

If you have not already chosen a discipline (or even if you have), I want to challenge you to read a psalm each day. The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 prayerful songs and poems that delve deeply into the relationship of faith. Find a minute or two each day to read a psalm, reflect on how it intersects your life. You could start at the beginning and read through the first 40 or so psalms, or you could just open your Bible to a page and read it (this works well for Psalms as it is in the center of the Bible). I will be reading through the Psalms this Lent and will offer some of my thoughts occasionally to be posted on our church's Facebook page, so you can share in the journey.

May God bless you and guide you through this Lenten season!

Blessings on the journey, Jim

​Sunday's Sermon Snippet

Forgiven: A Bag of Rocks (Psalms 32 & 38)How would you feel about having to carry a bag of rocks around everywhere you went? A number of small rocks might not make much difference, but add in several medium-sized rocks and a large rock or two and it likely would be a different story. While we might be able to bear the burden for a day or weeks, even years, none of us would choose to do so. There is no need to carry around a burden we do not have to. Yet we do it anyway. These Psalms today remind us how we tend to carry our sin around with us rather than leave it with God. As Psalm 38 tells us, sin is too heavy a burden to bear. It crushes us under its weight and drains the very life from our eyes.

God wants something better for us. That's why God has given us the path of forgiveness. Sometimes we act as if forgiveness is a punishment. Just as a young child so often balks at being told to apologize, we see God's offer of forgiveness not as the wonderful gift it is but as a burdensome requirement for us to live faithfully. Psalm 32, however, proclaims the blessing it is when our sin is forgiven and we are restored to God. Yet we cling to our bag of rocks - the burden of our sin that we carry. We continue to bear the weight of our sins against God, our sins against each other, even the sins of others against us (we may not create the sin but we bear part of the weight of its consequences), and our sins against our own selves. We could lay our bag down, but we are afraid to. What if God doesn't really forgive? What if others can't forgive us or what if they hurt us again? What if I can't forgive myself? So we ignore our sins against God and pretend they do not affect our relationship of faith. We futilely try to hide the sins we commit against one another. We hold onto the festering wounds caused by the sins of others and hold grudges in our self-righteousness. We live in shame and guilt over how sinful we are as we recognize the ways we have harmed ourselves in sin. It is just all too much - sin left unforgiven is far too great a burden to bear in life. Forgiveness is not easy, but it is the better way. Accept God's great gift and leave your bag of rocks behind. In the coming weeks, we are going to talk more about how forgiveness frees us and helps us to leave the burden of sin behind. What sins are you carrying around today?

Stairs Repair Update

Work on the stairs has continued with the good weather this week! The footings for the new stairs have been poured, and restorative work on the brick walls that joined the old stairs is nearly complete. Thank you for your continued support and patience as we finish this project in the next few weeks!

Living in Community

Thank you to all of our adults who welcomed our kidsto sit with them during our Ash Wednesday service!

​Thank you to all of our Trustees for your work overseeing our stairs repair work!

Plan to join us for our clean-up day on March 3rd at 8 am!There is plenty to be done from cleaning to digging and carrying things around.Donuts and coffee provided!

Looking Ahead

Leaving the Burden of Sin Behind

Does God really forgive me? Even if I have gotten angry at God or said bad things about God? How can I forgive someone who has hurt me so much? Does it make me bad that I don't want to forgive that person?

As a pastor, forgiveness is one of the most common topics that folks ask me about. It seems that forgiveness is something that we - myself included - wrestle with the most in our walks with God. At times, we doubt whether God can truly forgive us for the things we have done. Other times, we struggle to find the strength to forgive those who have hurt us the most. Either way, we bear the heavy burden of sin through our lives. This burden is the sorrow for what we have done and the wounds of past wrongs against us. God wants more for us. God want us to leave the burden of sin behind through the power of forgiveness.

With the beginning of Lent this week, we are going to turn our focus in worship to this topic of sin and forgiveness. Join us as we leave the burden of sin behind together!

Blessings on the journey, Jim

Sunday's Sermon Snippet

To the Horizon: Finding Safe Haven (Matthew 17:1-9)​Over the last few weeks, we have talked about all the things that Jesus asks of us when we follow him: to care until our hearts break, to take the next step, to attend to the small things, to risk failure at things that matter, and to never take the privilege of working alongside him for granted. It is enough to wear anyone out. It is a part of our nature, after all. Rest is a part of who we are and what we require. It is so important that God made it one of the ten biggest commandments. Jesus himself took time out from his ministry to rest, often going alone or with just a few followers to an isolated spot to pray. On one occasion, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain where they saw him transfigured into a white light. Then they saw Moses and Elijah, those prophets of old standing alongside him. Peter, ever impulsive, wanted to build homes for the three of them and stay there. "It is good to be here," he said. But Jesus told them, "Get up!" and they made their journey back down the mountain.

Peter's response points out the allure of good rest. After months of hard travel and constant ministry, he was likely tired and ready to be refilled - not just physically but spiritually. After all, following Jesus can be hard work. There on that mountain, he found rest from the weary road. Why not just stay there where he could be filled by this miraculous scene instead of pouring himself into serving others? But that's not what rest is about! True rest is not about laziness nor selfishness. Rest is about healing from the old wounds and preparing for the next adventure. Like a toddler who plays hard, collapses into a nap, and then awakens ready to go at it all again, we are called to work hard in ministry, rest hard, and go back out again. That is why we do not live at church but rather gather there for rest periodically. Far more than simply doing nothing, our rest is holy rest - singing songs, reading Scripture, praying, enjoying God's good gifts. Through these we are renewed and ready to go out in ministry again. We follow Jesus not just by doing the many things he asks but also by making time for holy rest and then returning to work he has given us.

What gives you holy rest? How do we get motivated for ministry after resting?

Living in Community

Please remember Kerry, Lee, and their family in Christian sympathyas they grieve the passing of Kerry's father Frank.

Thank you, Dinah, for sharing such beautiful words in your prayer on Sunday!Thank you, Dinah, Jim, and Jodie, for serving communion on Sunday!

Thank you to our team that began planning for our 225th anniversary celebration!Please be in prayer for them over the coming months.

Looking Ahead

A Holy Lent

These first few weeks of 2018 have seemed to fly by so quickly! It is hard to believe that the season of Lent is about to begin in just a weeks' time on February 14th. Lent is the 40-day (not including Sundays) season leading up to the celebration of Easter (this year on April 1st - no fooling!). The purpose of Lent is for us to reflect on our spiritual health, to turn back to God, and to seek to grow deeper in our discipleship. The forty days remind us of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry, the years that Israel spent wandering in their travels from Egypt to the Promised Land to be ready for the blessings God had in store for them, and the days of the flooding rain that Noah endured upon the ark preparing for a new start, among other such journeys.

The journey of Lent is one marked by a focus on spiritual disciplines: prayer, reading Scripture, worship, giving, and fasting. It is this last one - fasting - that has come most to be associated with Lent as people choose to give up something - sometimes trivial, sometimes big - for the season. Fasting from something, whether it be food for a day or chocolate or TV for a few weeks, is a matter of faith as we choose to change our daily patterns of life and focus on God. Sometimes the temptation to break the fast rears it head, and it is in those moments that we rely on the strength of the Spirit to make the decision we want to make. It is not that the things we fast from are inherently wrong to enjoy; fasting is rather about practicing the ability to choose God over other good things in life. The Apostle Paul once wrote that because of his own worldly nature that he did not do the good he wanted to do, but the evil he did not want to do was what he did instead. Fasting helps us to put aside that tendency and practice choosing what good we want to do for the sake of God through the power of the Spirit.

Next Wednesday, we will enter into the season of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service at 7 pm. During the service we will make our commitments to have a holy Lent in which we renew our focus on God. I hope you will be able to join us as we begin our 40-day journey together. In the meantime, consider where your spiritual life is and what you can do during this Lent to grow in your discipleship.

Blessings on the journey, Jim

Sunday's Sermon Snippet

To the Horizon: Reaching the Horizon(Matthew 10: 1, 7-8; Luke 10:17-20)Last week, we talked about what happens when we fail in our journey of following Jesus. But what happens when we succeed? What happens when we reach that spot on the horizon that we were aiming for?

To see how the disciples handled their success in following Jesus, we first take a step back to the instructions he gives them in Matthew 10. He commissions the twelve disciples to go out and proclaim the good news, heal the sick, drive out spirits, and raise the dead. What an incredible calling! No one could blame them for being overwhelmed or feeling a bit inadequate to do this kind of work. "Freely you have received," Jesus reminds them, "freely give." In Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples with similar instructions, and we get to hear about their return. They come back excited and tell Jesus that even the demons submit to them in his name. Jesus' reply is sometimes seen as a rebuke of their pride in this, but I think there is something more going on here.

The disciples recognize that it is the name of Jesus that holds the power, but they are amazed that they are able to wield it against demons. Jesus himself shows a bit of pride in them - like a parent's pride when a child does something they weren't sure they could do - as he responds that he saw Satan falling like lightning. This may be more than hyperbole meant to build up the disciples. Jesus may be pointing out the greater work they are doing that they themselves are unaware of: "You were not just defeating individual demons but Satan himself with each small success!" Jesus then reiterates the authority he has given to the disciples, implying that they are to continue their good work in his name. Just because they have completed the work he first sent them out to do does not mean that they are done. Having arrived at that point on the horizon they had taken aim at, Jesus now points out another point on the horizon. The journey of faith and ministry continues. Lastly, Jesus corrects the disciples to focus not on the success of their work or their own power but rather on the fact that their names are written in heaven. Instead of rebuking their pride, here Jesus is helping the disciples to focus on what will help them continue in ministry, whether they succeed or fail. It is not their power to do his work that is the privilege here; rather their privilege is merely being a part of what God is doing to redeem the world. Keeping the focus on the privilege of being with God and working by the power of Spirit, even success become irrelevant. Success can sometimes breed complacency or a lack of excitement as we do the same things over and over, albeit successfully. By focusing on the privilege of being a part of what God is doing, it is not about our success or the novelty of what we are doing. It is about the fact that we are on this amazing adventure with God, and we get first-row seats to the miracles of grace. It comes back to Jesus' instruction: "Freely you have received; freely give." We follow Jesus by giving thanks for the privilege of being a part of what God is doing in the world. What are you excited about doing for Jesus? What is God calling us to be a part of?

"God has been good to us..."

During the past 3 months, the senior high youth studied Dave Ramsey’s Generation Change, a study that leads teenagers to a better understanding of God, themselves, their money, and how it all works together. During the class, students were equipped with biblical principles to apply in their everyday life. These principals included; BE who God created them to be, DO more with their money, and GO out into the world ready to write their story.

At the conclusion of the course, the youth were given the chance to apply what they learned at our celebration dinner. Their mission was to take a specific amount of money ($196.93), buy lunch, and then bless others with the money they had left over. They decided to have a spaghetti meal because it’s cheap, and they wanted to spend a lot of money on other people. With cash in hand, they comparison-shopped and then returned to the church to begin cooking. To everyone’s surprise, the total was $19.42 for 11 people to eat!

The teens were elated they were able to eat the cheapest meal possible so they could complete Part 2 of their mission. They now had $177.51 to bless others in the community. Their first stop was to buy clothes for South River Elementary School clothes closet. They got 60 pair of children’s undergarments, 18 child socks, 4 kid’s shirts and 5 kids pants. If you said $143.47 you guessed right!Next, they trucked over to Food Lion with $34.04 to collect hot and cold cereal for their local food pantry. After every teen had 1-2 boxes of cereal, the treasurer estimated how much the total to would be so they didn’t come up short in the cashier’s line. He estimated high just to make sure they had enough. After paying for 16 boxes of cereal, the teens still had $7.00 left! They were wondering what to do with it. They noticed a lady behind them in line with a few items in her cart. They gave the money to her and said they wanted to bless her. The lady was shocked, and so was those around her. The teens were full smiles and laughter. “God has been good to us and we would like to pass on the goodness.” This lady’s misty eyes and stunned expression turned into a radiant smile as she replied, “Amen”. ​​

Inclement Weather Policy

With recent winter weather, we want to remind you of our inclement weather policy. For Wednesday at the Port, we cancel if the Rockingham schools are cancelled or released early due to weather (this would not include cancellation due to lack of electricity as we had last week). For Sunday morning worship, we will have worship if it is possible for Pastor Jim to be at the church and for the parking lot and sidewalks to be cleared. We want everyone to be safe, so please exercise good judgment as to whether you are able to make it safely from your home. If you are not able to be with us for worship, we will miss you but will certainly understand. If you are not able to come and have a responsibility at church that morning, please let us know and we will adjust accordingly. Be safe and stay well over these next couple of months!

Living in Community

Thank you, Susie, for offering such a beautiful prayer in worship on Sunday!

Thanks to all of our worship volunteers who came out on Sunday despite the threat of bad weather!We couldn't do it without your dedication!

Thanks to everyone who came to our VBS Planning Meeting!With your help, we are looking forward to another great year!

This Week at Port Church

Wednesday, February 7Office Hours and Wednesday at the Port cancelled due to weather